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magisteriaexe2024-09-02 06:49 pm
magisteriamods) wrote in magisteriaexe2024-09-02 06:49 pm
Agrarian Enclave Mingle: Oca Street Bathhouse
This is another mingle set in Magisteria's Agrarian Enclave, or the Agriculture District. For maximum thirst, it can be combined with the first Enclave mingle, specifically the ambrosial honey. Visitors are welcome to play it as their characters exploring both, either individually or together!
Known throughout the district as a haven for relaxation and wellness, the Oca Street Bathhouse features luxurious hot springs, invigorating steam rooms, and therapeutic pools infused with herbal extracts, all housed in/among rooms with soft, ambient lighting. Visitors may select from among a wide number of "Aqua Aromatics" to produce different sensory experiences.
The Oca Street Bathhouse also offers an impressive number of massage options derived from Otherworlders' ancestral cultures. Whatever your desire, every aspect of the bathhouse is fully customizable for all patrons, lending to a wholesale self-care experience.
[Below are some ideas to get everyone started, though players are of course free to make up their own massage options, bathing rituals, and aromatics! A world like Magisteria would of course have options beyond those from Earth history, but I kept it simple here. Again, feel free to add more!]
Massage Options & Bathing Rituals
Elemental Stone Massage: This unique massage technique incorporates smooth, heated stones placed strategically on the body's energy centers to promote deep relaxation, balance, and a sense of grounding.
Aromatherapy Massage: Using a blend of carefully selected essential oils, this massage focuses on soothing the senses, relieving stress, and enhancing overall well-being.
Thai Herbal Compress Massage: A traditional technique that combines gentle stretching, acupressure, and the application of warm herbal compresses to stimulate energy flow, release muscle tension, and promote detoxification.
Shiatsu Massage: Based on Japanese acupressure principles, this massage involves rhythmic finger pressure applied to specific points on the body to restore balance, relieve tension, and boost energy levels.
Deep Tissue Massage: Ideal for those seeking targeted muscle relief, this massage utilizes firm pressure and slow strokes to reach deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue, releasing chronic tension and promoting flexibility.
Hinoki Wood Bath: Inspired by Japanese traditions, the Hinoki Wood Bath combines warm water and fragrant Hinoki cypress, known for its therapeutic properties. It rejuvenates the body and mind, relieves fatigue, and promotes a sense of tranquility.
Moroccan Hammam: Experience the purifying and exfoliating benefits of a traditional Moroccan Hammam ritual. This steam-based cleansing ceremony invigorates the skin, leaving it refreshed, smooth, and glowing.
Ayurvedic Abhyanga: Drawing from the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda, this ritual involves a full-body massage using warm herbal oils tailored to balance the body's specific dosha (constitution). It aims to restore harmony, improve circulation, and nourish the skin.
Turkish Ottoman Bath: Step into a world of opulence and relaxation with the Turkish Ottoman Bath ritual. Enjoy a sequence of hot and cold water treatments, exfoliation, foam massages, and invigorating splashes, all designed to cleanse, revitalize, and refresh the body.
Aqua Aromatics
Blissful Lavender: Extracted from lavender flowers, this herbal extract promotes relaxation and stress relief. It has a soothing aroma that calms the mind and helps to create a tranquil atmosphere in the bathhouse.
Revitalizing Eucalyptus: Derived from eucalyptus leaves, this extract has invigorating properties. It releases a refreshing scent and provides a cooling sensation, revitalizing the body and mind.
Enchanting Rose Petals: The extract from rose petals adds a touch of luxury and romance to the bathhouse experience. It has a delicate and captivating fragrance that promotes self-love, sensuality, and emotional balance.
Soothing Chamomile: Chamomile extract is known for its calming and soothing effects. It is perfect for those seeking relaxation and relief from anxiety or muscle tension. It helps to create a serene and peaceful ambiance in the bathhouse.
Invigorating Peppermint: Peppermint extract offers a refreshing and uplifting experience. Its cool and minty aroma stimulates the senses, providing a burst of energy and clarity. It can also help soothe headaches and improve focus.
Grounding Sandalwood: Sandalwood extract has a woody and earthy fragrance that promotes grounding and centering. It creates a sense of tranquility and aids in meditation and spiritual practices.
Energizing Citrus Blend: A blend of citrus extracts, such as orange, lemon, and grapefruit, can provide an energizing and uplifting experience. The vibrant and zesty scents help to rejuvenate the body and mind, boosting mood and vitality.
Nourishing Oatmeal: Oatmeal extract is known for its nourishing and soothing properties. It can help moisturize and soften the skin, making it ideal for individuals with sensitive or dry skin. It provides a comforting and gentle bathing experience.
Purifying Green Tea: Green tea extract has antioxidant and detoxifying properties. It can help cleanse the skin, leaving it refreshed and revitalized. Its subtle aroma creates a refreshing and purifying atmosphere in the bathhouse.
Harmonizing Jasmine: Jasmine extract is often associated with relaxation and harmony. Its sweet and floral scent promotes a sense of balance and peace. It enhances the overall sensory experience and encourages self-reflection.
Left: This woman currently manages the bathhouse. She goes by Tai. She will be happy to accommodate clients.
Right: Yokai clans comprised one of the groups that founded the bathhouse. Murals can be seen on the walls.
Pleasures of all sorts may become quite real within the sensuous sensory-rich environs. Citizens of diverse backgrounds visit this place. Waterfolk of various kin, but also mundane normie humans, elves, faeries, and even some on the tech-forward side.
PCs are free to handwave interactions with amorous locals or with workers at the establishment, who are trained in full-service massage+pleasure work. Random one-off NPCs can be made for this purpose in the location, so go wild! ♥
At some point, Otherworlders might encounter a worker who looks a little uncertain. She’s conversing with elf guy (likely also a worker there).
Otherworlders may overhear the worker say that lately certain of their clientele had been behaving a bit strangely. Unfamiliar women arriving and … there was talk of induction into some group. Otherworlders will overhear her saying she did manage to collect digital business cards for certain individuals/the organization.
If Otherworlders listen closely, they’ll hear concern: these people were kind of giving off… culty vibes.
PCs are free to approach and ask about those business cards... Simply reply to "Plot Key" below.
[Note: This plot clue relates to an ongoing game plot in the works. It may be a little confusing to new players, but any are free to ask into the clue/pursue details.]
Right: Yokai clans comprised one of the groups that founded the bathhouse. Murals can be seen on the walls.
Pleasures of all sorts may become quite real within the sensuous sensory-rich environs. Citizens of diverse backgrounds visit this place. Waterfolk of various kin, but also mundane normie humans, elves, faeries, and even some on the tech-forward side.
PCs are free to handwave interactions with amorous locals or with workers at the establishment, who are trained in full-service massage+pleasure work. Random one-off NPCs can be made for this purpose in the location, so go wild! ♥
Plot Key
At some point, Otherworlders might encounter a worker who looks a little uncertain. She’s conversing with elf guy (likely also a worker there).
Otherworlders may overhear the worker say that lately certain of their clientele had been behaving a bit strangely. Unfamiliar women arriving and … there was talk of induction into some group. Otherworlders will overhear her saying she did manage to collect digital business cards for certain individuals/the organization.
If Otherworlders listen closely, they’ll hear concern: these people were kind of giving off… culty vibes.
PCs are free to approach and ask about those business cards... Simply reply to "Plot Key" below.
[Note: This plot clue relates to an ongoing game plot in the works. It may be a little confusing to new players, but any are free to ask into the clue/pursue details.]
no subject
[ The theory went that there often seemed to be. Wasn't that how it was supposed to work? ]
I suppose your world does not contain my legend. The Epic of Gilgamesh, as it came to be known later? You see, I traveled the world and indulged in all pleasures. Yet we had no such technology in my era.
[ And now he sounds a little disappointed. Look, it was the King's prerogative to sample all pleasures. He is currently naked, day drinking. Should Lucy be down to share, he may be about to vape Verve. It is only fitting to experience cyber-pleasures, too.
... but, well. It occurs to Gilgamesh: What's stopping him, if indeed such a thing exists here? ]
Have you seen or found out anything interesting lately?
[ They keep meeting on tech missions, or during that Nightglow quest, so he wouldn't know what all else she's been up to. Also, compared to his mythic counterpart, well, Gilgamesh was scrawny... but he's definitely very Twunky Animu Boyfriend shaped. ]
no subject
[ Lucy blows another plume of verve-smoke toward the sky. BDs have definitely got to be a thing in a world this technologically advanced, but who knows if the topics are the same. The culture is totally different here than in Night City. Here, they might actually have relaxing shit. Slow train ride videos. Whale noises. Whatever counts as relaxing.
Her world actually does have The Epic of Gilgamesh, but Lucy's never read it, and knows nothing about it besides... there was a guy named Gilgamesh at some point? He was maybe a real king? Whatever, it's not like she went to a proper school. ]
Couple months ago I got dragged to some forest grove full of spirits. Some of them said trouble was brewing in the city. Something about the waters, whispering about a magic user who wants absolute authority over magic in this city.
[ Lucy extends a hand, offering her vape to Gilgamesh. If he wants to indulge in all pleasures, well, she can help a little. Good for him. ]
cn bc alcohol, verve, substances!! also mentions vaguely of nsfw things ig.
The city-state of dichotomies. Past and future. Brightness and darkness. Fierce asexuality juxtaposed against all manner of hedonism.
[ He takes a breath from that vape. ]
Well, truly, it suits me just fine. Even now.
[ He tries to think to whether he has tried this drug before. The first night, Gilgamesh thinks? He got pretty lit. He thinks. Pretty sure. Okay, but that has been a hot minute. It certainly is a lot to take in, that synaesthetia effect.
See, Lucy was envious of some things, but being from the future, her brain and synapses probably did have a few advantages. ]
And yet. Lucy. [ Would it be weird to add some title? ] Is magic a concern of yours? I was given to understand it was in no way your domain.
[ And yet she'd ended up fixated on this point, huh... ]
no subject
[ It comes out dry, because yeah, magic's definitely not her domain. The whole spirit grove thing had been kind of overwhelming, a whole lot of magic packed into a tiny place. Ancestors, water spirits, animal spirits. ]
But let's just say I have an issue with authoritarians.
[ And that sure seemed like what that rumored magic lady was trying to do; be an authoritarian, form a monopoly on magic. This city had seemed so tranquil when she'd first arrived, and now the deeper undercurrents are starting to reveal themselves. The Fractured. The White Phantom. The Symphony of Disruption. Hints from Seraphina and others that the government district might not be all it seems. But where does this magic-seeker fit into it? Is she something else entirely? ]
Magic's your domain. Figured you might want to know, if you didn't get dragged there too.
no subject
Gilgamesh inhales a final drag of smoke from the vape pen. It's a contrast to the instruments he is accustomed to, more practical than stylish. Once he has taken his share, he presses it back against Lucy's palm, reminding himself to ... make time to sample more of what this world has to offer. Certainly, Gilgamesh has been adventuring in Magisteria, as he does. He has participated in battles, which always invigorate him as a hero-king. He has even begun a gamer circuit with Rhea'li, and now, of course, he is perusing more idle pleasures... nudity, drinking.
But night clubs, "BrainDances," or whatever the Magisterian equivalent is, vaping Verve: Gilgamesh knows there is more he has yet to see in the Entertainment District and elsewhere, in this paradise city of advanced technology. He has chosen technology as his path to walk, so even if it's in the name of entertainment, he must come to know all that this city-state can and does offer.
But, for now, there is something else on his mind. ]
Hmm... is that so?
[ Gilgamesh sounds contemplative.
Sitting on the same wooden bench as Lucy, Gilgamesh leans back, rolling his shoulders indulgently. The water from the hinoki wood bath flattens his hair, giving it an appearance of added length, though he's also mussed like this, perhaps with a touch more of an open or softened appearance, without all the usual ornate jewelry or the techno-metallic frills Gilgamesh has donned in Magisteria to accompany his typical, colorful Caster-class outfit. There's also a bit of a shine to his eyes, as the topics do indeed stir his thoughts. ]
It was something of the same for me, I suppose you might say. [ Something like the ghost of a smirk plays about the corner of his lips. ] I was created by the gods to be a linchpin between themselves and the humans. An arbiter. Yet, I came to oppose those beings. I ended their reign.
Of course, I was called a tyrant in my life... the north wind who would discipline the people, like a tempest. [ He laughs a little, as though at an internal joke. ] But one day, the circumstances came when I would laugh at such notions. Ephemerality. Life, birth, death. Transience is the nature of the human world, as I came to see. How could I not laugh at that great joke? The idea of absolute control.
[ Free will. It is kind of a beautiful thing. And maybe Lucy has realized, Gilgamesh is not exactly the sort of man who can easily form bonds with others. No, rather, he has always held himself absolutely apart from humanity and all else. There was only ever one he called a friend, a vow sworn five millennia before to never give the title to another. To hold himself apart while watching humans grow... ]
Clairvoyance is a part of my abilities, as a demi-god. I could see that someday, humanity would go beyond my garden, into the stars. Though my body perished long ago, I have returned over and over again, in the form of summonings. It is no wonder I am here in Magisteria. To be in this future, to see the progress humans have made... well, it gives me a certain joy.
[ Not even his eyes had seen this far into the future. But it feels right, Gilgamesh thinks.
... well, he shakes his head a little, as if coming back to himself. Gilgamesh hopes he has given Lucy a few things to think about, at least. ]
I am a being made of magic, a Servant, but I won't say magic is my domain, per se. I am no mongrel magus or anything of the sort. It is not a thing I study. Rather, it is an inherent aspect of the world from which I originated. It is true for all Servants. Yet if I am to take on responsibility for this city-state as I did my own, Uruk, then I must naturally oppose forces such as those you describe.
How troublesome...
no subject
He fits right into a place like Magisteria, where magic and technology fuse freely, and anything seems possible. Lucy, from a world where gods and fantasy don't exist, from a world where cooperation only exists as a joke or something to save your skin, almost feels out of place, and yet desperately wants to make this place her home. ]
Why do you feel like you have to take responsibility for this place?
[ Lucy's curious, trailing her fingertips over the surface of the water. To an extent, a lot of the Otherworlders are taking a certain amount of responsibility, helping to investigate things and shutting down problematic broadcasts. But. ]
You sound like you want to be King. [ Lucy smirks. ] Pretty sure they've already got a government here, though.
no subject
I do not seek power in any formal sense, if that is what you suppose. Tch... besides, if I have any role, at present, it is as the Chief Financial Advisor among the Otherworlders.
[ Appointed by himself, but someone has to don the mantle!! ]
Yet, my nature is... as it is. I cannot be other than what I am. To guide humanity, to observe their progress through the eons -- it is for that reason I came into existence.
[ Doesn't Lucy understand? Out of everyone here, Gilgamesh thinks she might be capable of comprehending him. But perhaps it is difficult, if her world is as different as it seems to be. ]
My official title at any moment is of no consequence. It is my nature, my internal state. I cannot be a commoner. In my life, collecting all the world's treasures, it is something like breathing to me. An activity I engage in naturally, without intention or thought. It is the same with accumulating wealth, or taking responsibility in the manner you speak of. If Magisteria is to be a place I think of as my domain, then its fate falls to me.
Think of it this way, Lucy. If indeed evil comes to Magisteria, then we do not bear the lives of a few people on our shoulders. We bear the lives of the whole human race. That makes it easier, doesn’t it? Whatever may happen, the instant you fail all those who would condemn you for it have been eliminated. You can take pleasure in battle and fail without fear.
To take on the burden of all things is essentially to face the world one-on-one. There is nothing to fear. Against all the lives in the world, you may become all its evils, it doesn’t matter. The only one who can punish you is you yourself.
[ #GilgameshPhilosophy. ]
Perhaps you think you are not yet ready to face All the World's Evils, yet such has been my journey from the beginning. With me by your side, you shall not lose, whatever we may face.
Be pleased, there is not another whom I would say such words to, aside from the one who would be worthy to be my Master.
[ Which he's ... tentatively, somewhat in the market for, in this world. An unclaimed heroic spirit, but not just any, at that. ]
no subject
No, Lucy's not ready to face all the world's evils. Even with Gilgamesh by her side. Even with Musashi by her side. She's not a warrior like them, she's not a hero.
What, then, was Lucy Kushinada made for? She can barely think of the answer; it's too tied up in visions of wires and glitches and children's cries and pain. ]
It's a good thing Magisteria has someone like you then, huh.
[ It comes out a little jaded, Luzy's gaze tipped back to the sky rather than watching Gilgamesh. Suddenly, she's all too aware of the incredible difference between them. A king and a gutter rat. A hero and an edgerunner. A man with access to all the world's pleasures and a woman who still hasn't decorated her apartment. ]
I get it. You're made to take on the burden of fighting evil. You can't not. It's pretty noble, actually, even if you're saying it's just your nature.
no subject
He glances downward and away. There is not much of a reply Gilgamesh can offer at such a moment, because even if it's a touch jaded, Lucy's assessment is not wrong. Nobility is Gilgamesh's by right of birth and role. But of course, there is another side to all this. His very uniqueness does mean that he is an absolutely individual existence, alone in all space and time. That is to say, absolute loneliness.
But this, too, is not something Gilgamesh allows himself to accept any sort of sympathy or comfort over. He is as he is. It is only that every coin has two sides, and there is also a price to the sort of Absoluteness which Gilgamesh so casually projects. ]
Of course, in my kingdom, there was no such thing as an extraneous individual. All lives contribute to the glory of the kingdom and the King.
[ Gilgamesh casts a glance around, though he looks almost disinterested in the surroundings. Really, he's contemplative, as ever. ]
So it seems in Magisteria, also.
[ And with that, he rises, locating a towel and wrapping it about his lower half as he strides away from this particular scene. There are no further words or any hint of any external reaction beyond that. ]